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Keeping a secret in Formula One is fairly difficult considering it’s a sport where whispers and rumors run rampant. So the fact that Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster move to Ferrari was largely kept under wraps until hours before it was officially announced on Feb. 1 is shocking, to say the least.
“I don’t know how it was for you. Normally, we’ll get a bit of a tickle a week, two weeks before something like that happens,” Williams driver Alex Albon said. “But I was in Spain at the time, and that kind of threw me totally off guard.”
F1 has seen surprise driver changes before, like Nico Rosberg’s sudden retirement after winning his first drivers’ championship in 2016. Even Hamilton’s jump from McLaren to Mercedes for 2013 raised a few eyebrows, though it had long been rumored. But his latest leap hit the rumor mill suddenly.
Initial reports out of Italy and Spain quickly gathered momentum, with confirmation of Hamilton’s Mercedes exit and move to Ferrari arriving less than 24 hours after it was first reported. Considering how rapidly the news broke and the fact the seven-time world champion appeared to be dedicated to the Silver Arrows’ project when he signed a contract extension just six months earlier, the move caused shockwaves around the F1 world. Drivers for teams that had yet to have their season launches faced questions about the move and its ramifications on the drivers market.
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How Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes F1 exit unfolded: ‘Is it April 1st?’
But announcing a 2025 driver change ahead of the 2024 season raises questions not just about the unusual timing, but how it will be handled within both the Mercedes and Ferrari camps given there’s preseason testing, 24 grands prix and six sprint races to tackle before the moves occur.
“He is just as (big), if not bigger than the sport itself,” Albon said.
Why this matters for F1
Looking at the sport from a 10,000-foot view, questions arose whether F1 could see a drop in viewership after a Red Bull-dominated season that many fans labeled as boring.
But now there’s a new storyline unfolding, one that’ll impact the grid for years to come.
“I think for Formula One, a Lewis-Ferrari tie-up is really exciting,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said ahead of the team’s 2024 season launch Thursday. “Obviously he’s got still a season to go with his existing team but he’s proven in the past that he’s not shy of making brave decisions. His move to McLaren to Mercedes for all intents and purposes looked not to be the right one at the time, but proved to be an inspired one.”
Now, two weeks removed from when the news broke, it’s one of the main topics of conversation. Social media engagement was off the charts as well, Hamilton’s initial tweet reaching 9.8 million views as of the publication of this story. For reference, his tweet three days later thanking fans for their support only reached 1.8 million views.
“I think it was quite funny,” Verstappen said when asked if he had heard anything about the move prior to the announcement, “because when Ferrari announced the deal with the beer sponsor, you could already see the numbers, it’s a bit like, something is going on!”
With Hamilton and Ferrari, it is two storied brands merging together. The British driver is chasing an unprecedented eighth world championship, and the Prancing Horse has become practically synonymous with F1 after being part of every season since the world championship began in 1950. And the Maranello-based team is experiencing a title drought dating to 2007 when Kimi Räikkönen won his title.
Hamilton’s surprise move threw chatter around driver moves into hyperdrive. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
But this move impacts more than just Hamilton, Carlos Sainz (whose seat he’s taking), Ferrari and Mercedes. The 2025 driver market was already expected to be hot before the news broke, and now, a coveted seat with one of the big three teams is up for grabs.
“It’s weird for me to position myself and even think that Lewis is going to Ferrari. It’s just one of them pinch yourself (moments). Is that really actually what’s happening?” Albon said. “But good for him, and I think more than anything, good for Formula One. You know a move like that is massive, but it’s hard, at least for me, to put it into context.
“But when you just see the amount of talk and noise it generated, it’s one of them Messi-Miami kind of stories. It’s huge.”
Why the timing matters
Verstappen said it best: “At the end of the day, seeing him go to Ferrari is not the surprise. If that’s your goal as a kid or your dream, then you go, right?”
What caught some drivers, including the Dutchman, off-guard is the timing of the announcement. This is F1’s longest season yet, and silly season typically starts buzzing around summer break. Of course, there are outliers, like when Ferrari confirmed in May 2020 it and Sebastian Vettel were parting ways at the end of the season. Fernando Alonso also started the 2006 season knowing he was leaving Renault and headed to McLaren the following year.
For the Spaniard, he said on his side as a driver, “It was not a big difference.” But naturally, things do change as the year progresses, at least on the team’s side. “It did change maybe for the team a little bit because halfway through the season they were just testing things or programming things for the following year and I was not involved in those things because they kept some secrets from me, which was understandable,” he said.
Verstappen felt that the timing of announcing Hamilton’s move could make the rest of the year “a little bit awkward. Even though you have had a lot of success together as a team, you can’t be included into anything any more.”
These are professionals, but at some point, there will be meetings that Hamilton cannot attend. But that likely won’t change the support come race time, given the amount of history between the British driver and Mercedes.
“It’s just at one point, you can’t share certain stuff,” Verstappen said, “but once he’s sitting in the car, they’ll still of course go flat out for him to win races as well.”
Intrigue builds around the Mercedes seat
The million-dollar question now is who will fill Hamilton’s seat.
We recently ran through the six potential candidates, included Sainz, Alonso and Albon, but it truly is anyone’s guess. Mercedes can take its time, and team boss Toto Wolff said, “I always like change because change provides opportunity. I’m really looking forward to taking the right decisions for the team together with my colleagues in who’s going to be in the seat next year. Maybe it’s a chance to do something bold.”
Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz are two top candidates to take Hamilton’s vacated Mercedes seat. (Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Some options, like Esteban Ocon, make sense because while he said he’s focused on Alpine “at the moment,” he has long-running ties to Mercedes. Some, like 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, are longer shots.
Ultimately, more than 10 drivers are in the final year of their contracts.
“I think it’s going to be very interesting dynamics within the sport, and obviously, the driver market as well,” said Sergio Pérez, whose contract is up with Red Bull at the end of the season. “It’s a lot earlier now. We’re going to see drivers trying to get their arrangements a lot earlier in the year because everyone is trying to get the best possible seat out there.”
(Lead photo of fans at the 2023 Japanese GP: Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
